Grading for vevo - Gara Eh for Ahmed Hassan - EGYPT

Color grading S-log in Sony A7s series cameras

The Sony A7s was definitely one of the hottest cameras from 2014, and as it's been in use for several years now, As a colourist, I have had plenty of opportunity to discover how to obtain the best possible image from it.

When shooting in HD internally, there is a growing consensus among A7s users that it's best practice to expose to the right +2 S (ETTR) (that is, exposure should be compensated brighter without clipping highlights).

Here, the video illustrates the effectiveness of exposing to the right two stops and overexposing a shot and making some quick adjustments in a color grading and achieving the best results.

Before/After color grading

Ahmed Hassan - Gara Eh (Official Video)DOP: Mo Ismael
Editor: Emshad Al Haq
Colourist: Sudip Shrestha
Post Production: Pixel House UAE
Universal Music MENA

Pixelhouse Production

Pixel House is based in Dubai and started operations in 2013 with a main focus on producing TV shows and video production projects.

For more information please visit : pixelhouse.ae

Download Baselight 5.0 student version

Avid vs. FCP vs. Premiere for editing likewise Davinci resolve vs Baselight vs assimilate scratch for color grading. Its your choice. Filmlight recently updated Baselight and sent 90 days trial license to use student version of Baselight.

Train to be a professional Baselight colourist with support from FilmLight

Baselight STUDENT is a comprehensive version of FilmLight’s Baselight colour grading software—with GPU rendering—that runs on any supported Mac platform.

The principle limitation is that the application is restricted to render out only h.264* movies or JPEG images. With no watermarking, this means that Baselight STUDENT can be used to create academic-year projects within the limitation of the delivery formats. Along with conform capability, colour space handling, format editing and the ability to render both image sequences and movie files, this also makes the application the ideal tool to learn how to start your career as a professional colourist assistant.

As Baselight STUDENT is specifically intended to help people learn how to work with Baselight professionally, the licence is limited to a 90-day training period; however this can be reviewed if necessary when your licence expires.

Key features

The student application is built from exactly the same software source as the full Baselight system. That means that it will always be up-to-date with the latest release. 
For a full list of Baselight functionality, please see the datasheets in the Document Library on our web site. Some of the highlights of Baselight STUDENT include:

• Support for control surfaces including Slate (but not Blackboard).

• Optional AJA SDI monitoring.

• 4:2:0 Y’CbCr cache allowing playback on lower-end machines.

• Rendering capability for h.264* movies or JPEG image sequences.

  Join Baselight student program.
  

PRELIGHT - Free on set color grading tool from Filmlight

FilmLight introduces Prelight, a freely licensed Mac OS X application designed to help DoPs and other professional creatives to author and review looks in pre-production and on-set.

Prelight’s simple-to-operate interface makes it a breeze to check how shots appear with looks or LUTs applied, and to import or add grading decisions that can be passed downstream. Images can be imported from almost any camera, and graded references exported in almost any format.

“What makes Prelight special is that it incorporates the full Truelight Colour Space technology you find in other FilmLight products,” said Peter Postma, Managing Director, FilmLight Americas. “So regardless of the camera, whether RAW or monitoring output, whether HDR or laptop screen, looks are applied consistently and grading decisions remain relevant even for final delivery.”

Prelight complements the FilmLight products FLIP and Daylight, which already provide full on-set and near-set grading capabilities. Many directors, working with a colourist early on or not, would just like more control over how the shot is going to look, and to be able to communicate that easily and visually to post-production.

The creative team can enhance the grade with simple but familiar tools, to create new reference stills as well as 3D LUTs or BLG (Baselight Linked Grade) files. With the render-free BLG workflow, the grades are non-destructive too: additional BLG metadata is created and attached to the stills. And the free licence for Baselight for Avid or NUKE, which makes it free to read and render BLG files, makes this workflow available to productions on any budget.

An extended licence can be purchased so that when these files arrive in the Baselight post house, or on a Daylight system for near-set dailies, the metadata is attached automatically and the BLG file becomes the basis of the grade, which can then be refined right up to the moment the deliverables are created. The additional licence also includes enhanced logging and monitoring capabilities.

As well as fitting in naturally with the BLG workflow, Prelight can fit into any post-production workflow because of the ability to export standard ASC CDL lists and third-party formatted 3D LUTs.

Integration with cameras, such as the ARRI Alexa SXT, means that Prelight can simplify the colour workflow dramatically by enabling fully automated metadata support all the way from the start of the production chain. Prelight can also interface to the majority of professional LUT boxes or monitors for real-time viewing.

“The production and post-production community is looking for ways to customise their workflows to guarantee the best scope for creativity,” Postma added. “Prelight is another exciting option to give simple but direct and reliable control. We are happy to offer the core features of Prelight, including the full grading and LUT toolkit, free, with very low cost options for connectivity and advanced metadata export.”

Filmlight Baselight 5.0 announced

FilmLight has announced the introduction of Baselight 5.0, the new version of its high-performance flagship colour finishing system. Baselight 5.0 is boosted with more than 50 new features.

Baselight 5.0 introduces a host of new high-tech features and creative tools to the leading colour grading application.

The most notable new concept to improve colour grading techniques is Base Grade. To give colourists natural, instinctual access to subtle grading, this creative tool moves away from the traditional lift/gamma/gain approach, to a set of controls which accurately mimic the way the eye appreciates colour: via exposure, temperature and balance. It gives the grading controls a more natural feel and results in smooth, consistent changes.

Base Grade isn’t the only step taken to make modern grading workflows more comprehensive and assured. Baselight 5.0 also provides added HDR capabilities through colour space ‘families’ – which hugely simplify the deliverables process for distinct viewing environments such as television, 4k projection and handheld devices – and gamut optimisation to provide natural gamut mapping deliverables and avoid clipping when captured colours can’t be displayed on a cinema or television screen.

With all Baselight releases, FilmLight strives to improve both productivity and creativity, and this one is no different. Baselight 5.0 boasts several tools that are specifically tailored to give colourists more creative control and reduce the time and energy spent out of the grading suite for round tripping with other effects and finishing systems:

• Perspective operator to allow easy screen replacement and re-projection
• Perspective tracking of images, shapes, paint strokes and grid warps using either 4 1-point trackers or new perspective-capable area tracker.
• Grid warper
• Dedicated keyer for production quality blue and green screen keying
• Paint tool for retouching, such as logo removal
• Relight tool to add virtual lights to a scene
• Matchbox shader including support for Flame Matchbox shaders

New software release Baselight 5.0 will be available for all BLG-enabled products from FilmLight, including the Daylight dailies and media management platform, as well as Baselight for Avid and Baselight for NUKE in the Baselight Editions range.